The residents of the state capital can boast of a stadium that would host international cricket matches.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said Moinul Haque Stadium at Rajendra Nagar would be demolished and a new facility of international standard would come up in its place to pave way for holding international cricket matches.

The structure of the Moinul Haque Stadium was old and its capacity to accommodate spectators limited, Nitish said while inaugurating BN Mullik 61st All India Police Football Championship.

“A stadium of international standard is a long cherished dream of the people. I expect the demand will not be repeated at the time of presentation of the report card on the government’s performance next year,” he added.

The chief minister said though there is a sports complex at Kankerbagh and a stadium (Mithilesh Stadium) on the BMP campus in Patna, the facilities cannot host mega sports events. “It is a fact that sports activities have increased in the state in the past few years. But there is a need to create a conducive atmosphere and develop infrastructure for promoting sporting activities,” Nitish said.

The chief minister added that his government was formulating a new policy on sports to employ sportspersons of national and international repute in the police department.

“The government is in favour of making direct recruitment of sportspersons, who have won medals in national and international championships in the police department. The policy will come into effect before March 2013 when the state police department would host the national athletics championship for the securitymen” he said.

Nitish asked art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhada Pandey to present a proposal to the government for setting up a separate institute to look after sporting activities. “I assure you there will be no dearth of money,” Nitish said, adding that he considered it a positive step when he was confronted with people’s demand for setting up stadium and sports complexes during his yatras.